2. The dating scan

The Friday following the discovery of our pregnancy was booked for the dating scan. We figured that we were around twelve weeks as Stacey was already beginning to show. All week she had been saying that this pregnancy felt different to that of Frankie’s, this could have been put down to many factors as I now understand, such as age and health.

We arrived at the hospital in good spirits, I was still buzzing at the turn of current life events and the prospect of being a nappy changing Dad. A skill I was yet to master. We got called in for the scan and the nurse proceeded to look for something beating within Stacey. She kept looking, and after what seemed like ages looked at Stacey and me and said, “are you ready for this…….three” !

we laughed at our accuracy of guessing twelve weeks, as in three months . She then explained it wasn’t three weeks, but three heartbeats, triplets!

I will never again feel what I experienced in that room at that moment. I burst out laughing in amazement. I just couldn’t believe it. When I looked at Stacey her reaction was not one of joy . She was literally shaking on the bed demanding the nurse look again, I have never been with her when she’s experienced such shock and fear. It was a difficult moment, as I still couldn’t stop laughing in my own state of shock. They took us to talk with a couple of midwives after who explained our situation and how much of a high risk pregnancy we would be dealing with, not just to the babies but to Stacey also. We had spontaneous dichorionic triamniotic triplets, so identical twins sharing placenta, and a singleton.

Discovering your having triplets is on par with say, switching on the radio to hear of an alien invasion. It’s surreal. No one can imagine what their response would be. We have since met many multiple parents who were hit with the same shockwave. It’s a game changing moment of epic proportions.

Stacey was shaking in tears at the news we had just received. Adamant that a reduction was the only safe option as was explained to us after the scan.

I was in a state of shock and over the moon, knowing full well we had been given three gifts. We were due to start fertility treatment the following month. I saw a miracle.

we were Seven weeks & five days.

The following months would be the toughest few months of our marriage.